50 Fascinating Facts About WWE in The 1980s
43. The Original Screwjob
If you listen real carefully, there's a chance the doors around Bret Hart's house say "Montreal Screwjob" when they squeak. It came to define his WWF/WWE run, which is a shame, but he wasn't the first to lose a belt live in the ring because Vince McMahon deemed it so.
Wendi Richter was the unfortunate victim of the first screwjob. That took place in November 1985. Richter hit the ring for what she assumed was a routine Women's Title defence vs. 'The Spider', but little did she know that McMahon had instructed Fabulous Moolah (who was underneath the mask) to forcibly pin Wendi's shoulders to the mat so she'd become the brand new champion.
This was McMahon's cut throat way of reminding Richter not to mess around and sign a new contract he'd put in front of her. Reportedly, Wendi was dead set against doing that because she was already in the midst of a five year deal that had more favourable terms. So, Vince decided to turn scripted wrestling real and take the title from his wrestler in the most underhanded way imaginable.
Distraught, Wendi left the venue in her wrestling gear and that was a wrap on her WWF run until she was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2010. During his Netflix doc, McMahon showed no compassion towards Richter at all. He said he simply had to take his title back if she wasn't going to play ball.